The night deepened, and the Wang family mansion was as bright as day, both inside and out. Scouts reported activity thirty miles away, with an estimated four to five hundred people.
"The fish have taken the bait!" Feng Qirui stroked his beard and laughed heartily. Fortune turns, and it was finally his time to achieve merit.
"General, shall I take men to intercept them?"
"No!" Feng Qirui waved his hand. "Let them come. Continue to scout; there might be unexpected surprises."
"Yes!"
"Someone, take the brothers inside and raid the house!" Feng Qirui ordered.
Without pushing them, how would those aristocratic families make up their minds?
"Yes!"
As the words fell, a group of people swarmed forward, about to break down the main gate when it opened from the inside.
The Wang family's butler made a gesture of invitation. "Gentlemen, please. However, could you keep the noise down? There are many women in the household."
"They are all about to become souls under the sword, and you ask for less noise? Can keeping quiet prevent heads from being chopped off?" the man guffawed.
"But this is the Wang mansion, not an execution ground. Those within the mansion are not yet prisoners," the old butler stated calmly, without subservience.
"They will be soon!" The man rudely pushed the old butler aside.
The old butler fell to the ground and took a long time to get up. He watched as a large number of people rushed in.
The old butler thought of the family head, tears streaming down his face. He had grown up with the family head. Twenty years ago, a great fire had nearly annihilated the Wang family, but the family head had survived it all. This time…
The Wang family members were all herded into a courtyard. The old butler was right; most of them were women. After the great fire twenty years ago, the Wang family's offspring had become sparse. If not for this, Wang Ningqing would not have gone against ancestral tradition to take a concubine.
Although the women couldn't hide their fear, they did not cry out or make a scene.
Feng Qirui paced back and forth, looking at the surrounded Wang family members with a cold smile. "What a fine estate. Pavilions and towers, the prosperous Wang family of hundreds of years… Heh, who would have thought the renowned Wang family would come to this day? You say Wang Ningqing why he couldn't think straight and became a thief? A pity, a pity…"
"General Feng," Wang Si Niang said softly, "You are acting under imperial decree, doing what you must. Si Niang admires you. However, with your eloquent speech, are you perhaps trying to plead for my Wang family?"
"Well said, a sharp-tongued young lady. What use is all this talk when death is at your doorstep?" Feng Qirui sneered.
"Since that is the case, General Feng need not waste his breath. After all, it's not convenient to make tea for you at this moment." Although Wang Si Niang was smiling, her inherent arrogance could not be hidden.
"You!" Feng Qirui gritted his teeth in hatred.
What he hated most was their attitude. She was like this, and so was that Yu Liu Niang. It was as if they were born superior, and no matter how hard they ordinary folk tried, or how high their official positions, they were insignificant in their eyes.
He detested such gazes, detested the aristocracy.
Wasn't she noble? Didn't she look down on them? Today, he would let her taste the feeling of falling from the clouds.
"There are still many issues to investigate in the case of Wang Ningqing and his son's treason. Someone, take Wang Si Niang down and interrogate her thoroughly." Feng Qirui emphasized the words "thoroughly interrogate."
His subordinates quickly understood. The Wang family was about to be annihilated. It was a pity such a beautiful and spirited young lady.
Not to mention, those raised in large families were different from ordinary young ladies. He wondered what would happen later…
As he spoke, he reached out to pull Wang Si Niang. The wet nurse beside her, being older, saw the intentions in these men's eyes.
"Presumptuous!" The wet nurse blocked Wang Si Niang. "Interrogation is the purview of the Ministry of Justice. Your Northern Bureau has no such authority."